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When I turn, all eyes are on me, and I freeze. Shit, I’ve been busted.
“What is that?” Clay asks.
“A surprise,” I tell him, positioning her in the center of the kitchen, cover still on. “For Kayla . . . I went to get it early.”
“Get what?”
“You’ll see,” I say, pulling off the cover with a flourish.
Everyone is completely silent.
Clay’s jaw tenses—maybe he’s jealous I thought of this first. Ares looks back up from his phone and stares.
“That’s Kayla,” Clay says, stating the obvious.
“I thought we could put her next to the fridge, or in the living room,” I tell him.
“Absolutely not,” Clay scoffs. “I am not eating breakfast opposite that every morning, Vero. It will stare at me . . . it has her eyes.”
“Duh, because it’s her. Don’t you want to see her more?”
“See who more?” Kayla asks as she walks into the kitchen, having showered and dressed in Ares’s bar T-shirt and black jeans. She is stunning as always.
She stops when she sees the wax figure. Kayla opens her mouth and closes it again, glancing from the life-size wax figure back to me.
“Surprise!” I say.
“I love it,” she says, walking closer to it. “I saw it, but not like this. Banks did a good job.”
“He did, look at all the details,” I tell her excitedly.
“I feel like you should be more disturbed by it,” Clay adds.
“Why?” she asks. “I think it’s awesome. Where is she going to live?”
“Here, next to—”
“No,” Clay snaps. “It’s not going next to the fridge.” Kayla glares at him but he doesn’t back down. “Nope, it will look at me with its beady eyes. Just no.”
Kayla laughs. “What about your room at the Asylum? We can dress her up to match you, and Clay can eat breakfast without having to admit he’s scared of a wax figure.”
“I am not scared. I just don’t want to stare at a life-size replica of the woman I’m fucking. One that gives off weird, creepy vibes.”
“Fine,” I say. “She can live at the Asylum, but if anyone touches her, they will get hurt.”
“But for today she stays,” Kayla demands.
I clap and Clay groans.
Kayla comes over to me and presses her lips to mine. “Best present ever.”
I beam. I knew she would love it when it was finished. This way she can always be at work with me. Talking to myself all night gets old, so at least now I can talk to her.
Chapter Thirteen
Kayla
I have been pestering the guys all week to let me take part in a chase. They are worried I’m not ready, but I know I am. I won’t allow what Aaron did to me to set me back—I can’t. I spent so long running from him, and now I no longer need to.
